Mistakes
by Professor Mist
Summary: A simple mistake was all it took to ruin someone's life. Oneshot, AU.


Six-year old Uzumaki Naruto was gloomily walking down a path along a stunning lake owned by the Uchihas, hands in his pockets, blonde head down, thoughts clearly elsewhere. He was walking on a worn-down path that was on a somewhat steep, yet grassy slope leading down to the small body of water, a locale used often by couples. There was nothing that could uplift his mood, not the radiant rays of the afternoon sun reflecting beautifully off the lake, not the cloudless sky that shone above him with all its cerulean might, not the vibrant creatures that splashed carelessly in the lake, not even the intoxicating smell of Ichiraku ramen had helped.

He was thinking about his family. Today, he had started the academy, a little bit late as the year had already started a month ago, with the help Hokage-jiji signing his entry form. It had made him think about something – why weren't his parents here to sign that for him, which often lead him back to where and who his parents were. Why didn't he have parents like all the others, like Shikamaru, Chouji, or Kiba? Did they abandon him, but if so, why? He didn't do anything bad, well except for maybe pranking that mean person in the market district a week ago, but he so deserved it for trying to trip him.

So entranced was he in his thoughts that he didn't feel himself bump into one of his classmates, Uchiha Sasuke. He was the kind of person Naruto disliked - proud, arrogant, prodigious, and the kind of person who looked down on him. His black spiky hair and his black eyes contrasted his smug pale complexion which had humiliated him in class today, during taijutsu practice. Regardless of that though, Naruto still envied him a bit, for his life was perfect in Naruto's eyes – he was smart, he had a family, everyone liked him….

Faltering a bit, he quickly regained his footing before he shouted, "Hey, watch where you're going, bastard!"

Sasuke was not one to back down. "Me? You're the walking disaster at school that can barely even fight at school!" He taunted, after regaining his bearings.

"Bastard!" Naruto growled, sapphire blue eyes burning for a rematch.

"Dobe!" He hissed back, challenging him to try it.

Glaring at each other challengingly for quite a few moments, they finally separated begrudgedly. Naruto was the first to talk.

"What're you even doing here?"

"To train so that when I become a ninja I can save idiots like you that shouldn't even pass the exam. You'd probably trip and drown in this lake as a ninja." Sasuke joked lightheartedly, trying to get a rise out of Naruto. Naruto may not be the smartest person out there, but Sasuke could see that he was lonely and no one liked him, so he wanted to help him.

It worked as not soon after Naruto exploded, swearing many obscenities to Sasuke, who merely shrugged them off, quietly snickering, and went down the hill, to the edge of the lake which was flat land, and onto the pier that went less than a quarter through the water. Naruto seeing he was being shrugged off like nothing, got angrier, but decided to ignore the bastard, to show him how it was like.

Muttering many grumbles under his breath, he began to walk off but then he tripped on a rock just ahead of him. The result was instantaneous. He began rolling down the somewhat-steep hill as he began to gain speed down the hill, while the dust he kicked up stung his eyes. He tried futilely to regain his footing, before he made a fool of himself in front of Sasuke, but failed to do so. His body felt like it was being rolled like a ball, and that the ball was making many spins, thoroughly dizzying him. He continued rolling on his back and feet, arms in a somewhat armadillo position. Finally he saw the grassy ground appear before he reached the pier. This was his last chance, if he didn't make it, Sasuke would see what had happened and he would be thoroughly humiliated. Preparing himself, he felt the slight tangy taste of grass before he timed his feet to land direct on the ground the moment he got off the hilly portion of the area. It worked. He landed right on his feet. Now all he had to do was stop the fairies floating in circles on top of his head.

Disoriented and walking in tiny steps, he never noticed when he walked on to the pier, never noticed Sasuke go through hand signs, never noticed him walking closer and closer, unaware of the impending danger, never noticed Sasuke taking a large deep breath, never noticed Sasuke's shocked look as he saw him walk in front of him, and certainly never noticed the large fireball engulf him in a mass scorching heat before plummeting him into the small lake, the sizzling lake producing steam, and the _PLOP_ sound the only indication that there was a body inside the lake.

Sasuke stared frozen in shock, unwilling to believe that he had not only succeeded his _Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu_ but that he had just used it on Naruto. Naruto, whose temper along with his every being was infamous in the whole village, whose pranks brought light into the lives of many, whose cheerful, yet brash attitude lit up the day. Naruto, whose clueless blue eyes didn't have a single friend . . .

He couldn't move, his muscles shocked to the core, and his eyes refused to take their sight off the spot where he last saw him in front of him. He couldn't understand what had just happened. His coal-black eyes were still wide with terror and what he had just witnessed, and had done, while his whole body shook with fear. He felt tears coming on, but didn't know what to do. What could he do? He was just an academy student, not an ANBU like Itachi-nii!

But then he remembered what he had said earlier.

(Flashback)

"What're you even doing here?"

"To train so that when I become a ninja I can save idiots like you that shouldn't even pass the exam. You'd probably trip and drown in this lake as a ninja."

(End Flashback)

He had said that he was training to save idiots like him, so why wasn't he doing so? It didn't matter that he was still an academy student; Sasuke knew he was the only one who could save him. So, forcefully gaining movement of his body, he walked slowly down the pier, and once at the edge, he dived forcefully into the somewhat shallow lake, determined to save Naruto.

After Sasuke had somehow pulled the blonde out of the water, he saw that the blonde wasn't breathing. He looked around frantically, hoping to see someone, anyone!, that could help him save the blonde. Luckily for him, a masked shinobi had been jumping towards the Hokage tower when he recognized the blonde not breathing. Quickly arriving at the scene, he saw the blonde's skin was charred black, and his seal was damaged. Panicking, the ninja had 'poofed' the blonde before Sasuke could even say anything.

Sasuke not knowing what to do started sniffling before running home.

Itachi, seeing his brother in such a distressed state, asked, "Sasuke…what happened?"

When he heard the story, his eyes widened. This was bad. He made a clone to comfort Sasuke before heading towards the hospital.

The next day the Hokage visited his house and asked him a few questions on what happened. Although he was nice, Sasuke could tell something was wrong.

"Is he…dead?"

The Hokage let out a weary sigh. "No, Sasuke, he's not. He's alive."

Naruto was alive! He hadn't killed anyone! He was so relived he started tearing up again.

The Hokage then went to Sasuke's dad's office and they talked about stuff. Sasuke thought he heard something similar to "Mangekyo" but he didn't know what that was so he left it at that.

* * *

After that, Sasuke continued to live his life normally. He couldn't build up the courage to visit Naruto and the guilt was slowly eating at him. Everyday, before he went to the academy, he would walk by the hospital to see if he could get the courage to go inside and apologize. The furthest he had gotten was asking the nurse what room he was in. Now he had made it a hobby to walk by the hospital everyday.

However, he tried to get rid of the guilt by living his life, making friends in the academy. Slowly, but surely, he began to forget about the blonde. By the time he graduated from the academy, he couldn't even remember a person named Naruto. However, his habit of walking to the hospital everyday remained for some strange reason. He didn't even know why he did that anymore.

Also, he noticed that the people began to love the Uchiha clan again.

By the age of 13, Sasuke was already Chuunin. Orochimaru had been killed by Itachi during a failed invasion of Konoha, where Sasuke got a field promotion.

At the age of 15, he was Jounin. He had a fully matured sharingan, and had an A-class bounty on him. He had made many close friends such as Chouji, Kiba, Shikamaru and even had a girlfriend named Haruno Sakura. However, something felt missing to Sasuke.

However, at the age of 16, he discovered his sharingan could mutate even further. When he asked his father, he looked shocked. He learned that it was called the Mangekyo and could only be attained by killing the one closest to you. He found it strange considering he had never killed any of his close friends.

Then, at the age of 17, a group of missing-nin named Akatsuki attacked Konoha. Sasuke's Mangekyo by then had matured greatly and he alongside his brother took out 3 of the Akatsuki members. 6 others were killed by Tsunade, Jiraya, and the rest of the Konoha shinobi force. The last member, however, was different from the others. He had a rinnengan and a sharingan and could become intangible. However, Sasuke's brother had a secret sword named the sword of Totsuka, which was able to seal the masked man as he got overconfident.

Konoha emerged victorious, but still 3 years later Sasuke felt as if something was missing. Something he forgot. He went to the hospital where his fiancé Sakura was working hoping she could help him figure out what it was.

As he searched the hospital, he activated his sharingan, hoping to make it faster. However, he found something strange. He could see almost every single room except one that was surprisingly dark. Curious, he went to it and took a peak.

Inside, he saw a blonde haired adult that looked the same age as Sasuke. As soon as he saw him, something inside Sasuke's mind broke.

He remembered everything. Him firing a fireball at a blonde haired boy his age. The Hokage coming to talk with his dad. The Yamanaka going inside Sasuke's mind and sealing his memories.

As Sasuke came back to his senses, he heard the blonde speak. "…Hey, you look familiar…Did I see you somewhere before?" He asked, more to himself than Sasuke.

Sasuke could only breahe, "..Naruto…"

"You even know my name! No fair." He pouted.

As he got a good look at the blonde, Sasuke reeled back. It was not a pretty sight. Almost all of his face was charred as if someone had chewed him between their teeth for too long before spitting him out. His fingers from what he could see were incomplete – he only had some digits whereas others were missing. His nose looked as if it was completely melted off his face. He didn't have right ear either. He saw that the blonde's eyes were black – weren't they blue?

He couldn't see the rest of his body from the blanket covering his torso and below, but he had a feeling it wasn't any better.

All he could do was start to tear up as his childhood memories started to return. He slowly began to inch towards the exit.

"Hey, wait! Where're you going!? Wait…are you crying!? What the fuck!? Waaait! Come back!"

* * *

Sasuke had already left towards the Hokage tower, where he saw the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade.

Tsunade, seeing his condition, asked what was wrong.

Sasuke's tried to stop his eyes from tearing as he demanded answers concerning the blonde in the hospital.

Tsunade merely sighed. "Sensei warned me that this might happen one day…Well brat, take a seat, because this will be a long tale."

She began from when he was hospitalized. She said that he was the jinchuuriki of the nine-tailed fox which attacked 20 years ago. The fireball had damaged Naruto's seal to the point that the fox was beginning to escape. They didn't have any way to control its chakra until Sasuke's brother showed up. Itachi was there to take responsibility for Sasuke's actions.

However, they didn't expect Itachi's Mangekyo to be able to control the fox's chakra. They quickly told Itachi to control Naruto, and crafted a veery weak fix to the seal.

The Uchiha clan had become an integral part of Konoha again. They were the only ones that could suppress Naruto should the Kyuubi break out. They began to get the respect they felt they weren't getting. Itachi was even forgiven for taking Shishui's life because they understood that it was necessary for the events of that day to occur.

Naruto, however, wasn't so lucky. Apparently, the Godaime Hokage was his godmother, and she had been requested by the Sandaime to heal the blonde. Although she would've normally avoided Konoha, she only came back to the village for Naruto's sake.

At this point, Sasuke saw a few tears in his eyes and thought bitterly, 'I guess she screwed up too.'

Naruto was permanently disabled. He was paralysed all the way up to his torso, minus his arms. He was also regulated to be stuck in the hospital – or another hidden room, for the rest of his life because the hospital needed to monitor his body levels in case the Kyuubi starts acting up. Even the slightest change in atmosphere could trigger a Kyuubi release because his new seal was extremely weak compared to his old one – the shiki fuin was hardly modifiable and in its damaged state, very weak.

Sasuke could hardly believe it. While he was living his life enjoyably, he had condemned another person to live a miserable existence, trapped in a hospital bed for the next how many years of his life.

The rest of the day, he spent wandering around Konoha. He didn't know what to do with his life anymore. None of his friends could reach him as wandered aimlessly.

Finally, before it got dark, Sasuke found his feet in front of the hospital again. He couldn't take it anymore – he needed to talk to the blonde.

He made his way through the hospital and to the room. He saw an ANBU guarding it and got a swift nod – he had permission to go inside.

* * *

He peaked through first, much like he did earlier today.

"Oh! It's you again!" he said, pleasantly surprised.

Sasuke said nothing.

"Hey, why aren't you talking?" he asked curiously.

Again, he said nothing, although you could see tears starting to pool.

"Hey, hey! Why are you tearing…up…" Naruto suddenly realized who it was.

"I'm sorry. "

Naruto just looked away.

"Its my fault that you're going to be stuck in a bed forever. That you can't ever be Hokage! That you can't ever become a ninja! Or go on dates! Or go to hot-springs!" he sobbed.

"…I know." The blonde whispered quietly.

"IF YOU KNOW, THEN WHY ARE YOU SO CALM!?"

Naruto turned to face him, giving him a weak grin. "Because I realized long ago that there's no point in holding grudges. I've already accepted my fate of never being able to walk," at this point he started to tear up himself, "or go outside, or swim… I know this already and I don't blame you any more for it."

"How…can you forgive me?" he asked quietly, having calmed down a bit.

"Well, 14 years stuck in a hospital bed gives you a lot of time to think," the blonde joked trying to lighten the mood as he wiped the moisture from his eyes.

However, the blonde's emotions triggered something which caused the Kyuubi chakra to try and escape again. "AAAAARGHH"

The ANBU, hearing the scream, entered the room quickly and noticing the Kyuubi shroud starting to take form, paled. "FUCK. Itachi-sempai is on a mission! SHIT!"

Sasuke, who was worried about his first friend asked, "What's happening!?"

"Naruto's body and mind are very sensitive. Due to the damage of the seal the littlest things can cause the Kyuubi to start leaking!"

"Oh…"

Suddenly a hand made of chakra extended from the blonde, trying to attack the two shinobi.

However, Sasuke remembered something from earlier.

"**Mangekyo Sharingan!**"

As if a switch was pressed, the Kyuubi's chakra began to recede back into the blonde before the Hokage arrived. "WHAT HAPPENED!?"

As the ANBU went to explain everything that happened, Sasuke walked towards the blonde who looked as if he had a slight headache.

"Damn, I hate it when you try to escape, fuzzy wuzzy. Always gives me a killer headache when you go back."

"Naruto," Sasuke began, getting his attention, "I know that I've ruined your life. Although you may have forgiven me, I haven't forgiven myself and I probably never will. But I will make it up to you! I'll find a way to get you walking! I'll figure out a way to fix your seal! I'll introduce you to my friends and they'll help me too. If I have to kill myself to get redemption, I'll do that as well!"

"You shouldn't say that. I wouldn't want you to kill yourself for redemption." Suddenly, he had an idea. "I know! You can enjoy life for me! Since I'm stuck here, I won't be getting any ladies any time soon, _not that I would with my face_, but you can be a pimp for me!" Naruto joked with a light smile.

Sasuke's eyes widened before he gave a light smile in return.

"Don't worry, Naruto, I promise I'll find a way to get you out of here!"

Naruto just grinned, "I look forward to it, Sasuke."


End file.
